Mauresmo and Schnyder advance in Madrid

As readers of this blog know, Amelie Mauresmo and Patty Schnyder are two of my favorite players, so it was nice to see them both win their matches in Madrid today and advance to the quarterfinal round. The Schnyder match against Nadia Petrova was not televised where I live, but I did get to see Mauresmo play Elena Dementieva. After the first set, Mauresmo appeared to be in 2006 form.

Both wins were upsets. Mauresmo--unseeded--defeated the 3rd seed, and Schnyder--also unseeded--defeated the number 8 seed. (It feels strange to refer to both Mauresmo and Schnyder as unseeded.)

These were not the upsets. 6th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova was defeated in straight sets by Alona Bondarenko, and in doubles, number 2 seeds Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual were defeated by Chuang Chia-Jung and Sania Mirza.

Some worthwhile reads

Thanks to After Atalanta for pointing out this New York Times feature on Carla Suarez Navarro. (I think what affected me most about it was being reminded that Francesca Schiavone is no longer in the top 40.)

Kamakshi Tandon takes Serena Williams to task for her constant complaining that the tour forces to play in tournaments, even though she is injured.

Todd Spiker previews the French Open.

Venus loses second round match in Madrid

Alisa Kleybanova is a bit like Tsvetana Pironkova, in that she tends to occasionally take down the mighty. Today, in Madrid, marked one of those occasions, when the Russian player--hitting hard groundstrokes, getting back a lot of balls, and waiting for her opponent to make errors--prevailed over a top player. Kleybanova defeated 5th seed Venus Williams 6-3, 3-6, 7-5. Williams was down 3-5 in the third set, but fought her way back to 5-all, only to be broken.

In one way, it was a typical clay court match--there were thirteen breaks of serve. But there wasn't much clay court razzle-dazzle from either player; it was more of a test of who could remain steadier just a bit longer.

Also upset today was 15th seed Zheng Jie, who was defeated in straight sets by Amelie Mauresmo. Despite Mauresmo's history of discomfort at the French Open, she is one of the few players who is a specialist on both clay and grass courts.

Also leaving the tournament today was Daniela Hantuchova, who was defeated by 4th seed Jelena Jankovic.

Peer out of French Open

Shahar Peer's foot injury has been diagnosed as a stress fracture, and she will not be at Roland Garros this year. Whether she will be at Wimbledon depends on how she heals.

It is also looking like Agnieszk Radwanska may not be at the French Open, either, because of a shoulder (one report says it's her back) injury.

Groenefeld and Schnyder upset in Madrid first round

Number 8 seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Patty Schnyder did not make it past the first round today at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. They were defeated, 6-2, 7-6, by the unseeded team of Victoria Azarenka and Elena Vesnina. The other seeds going out were Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta. The 6th seeds retired when Pennetta sustained a thigh strain. Their opponents, Hsieh Su-wei and Janette Husarova, advanced to the second round.

Serena Williams retires in Madrid

2nd seed Serena Williams retired today in Madrid after she played her first set against Francesca Schiavone. Williams continues to have problems with her knee.

Also retiring was Shahar Peer, who--so it seems--pushed it to hard in Estoril last week, and then went to Madrid and pushed it some more. Peer injured her ankle at the Estoril Open.

Flavia Pennetta retired from her doubles match today with a thigh strain. Yesterday, Kaia Kanepi retired--I no longer recall why. Kanepi is having a bad time of it. Last week in Rome, she double-faulted away a match against Victoria Azarenka in which she had Azarenka quite bewildered and frustrated.

Miscellany

Maria Sharapova says she will be playing in Warsaw next week. I won't be fully convinced of that until the tournament begins, but I certainly hope it turns out to be a reality.

Virginia Wade says that the order of things can and will be upset.

And, as Wade mentions, the hideous model "ball girls" are back.

Anabel Medina Garrigues has reached a career-high ranking of number 17 in the world.

Anna Ivanovic has a knee injury, Serena Williams has another knee injury, Flavia Pennetta has a thigh strain, Sabine Lisicki has a shoulder injury, Vera Zvonareva has an ankle injury, and Katarina Srebotnik is still healing from injuries to both her ankle and her Achilles. Some of the really good clay players are not in very good physical shape, and the French Open is just around the corner. Don't expect to see Srebotnik or Zvonareva, and let's all hope that Ivanovic, Williams, Pennetta, and Lisicki will be in good health.

Note to Tennis Channel commentators: Amelie Mauresmo is not the only woman on the tour with a one-handed backhand; she is just the player with the most beautiful one-handed backhand.